SEMO’s Double Standard

You don’t hear the phrase “in loco parentis” much these days. It’s Latin for “in the place of a parent” and refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent. It allowed for institutions such as colleges and schools to act in the “best interests” of the students as they saw fit.

I didn’t realize just how loco the parentis Southeast Missouri State College was until I ran across my old SEMO Student Handbook that I must have been given when I was a freshman. Women going to school in this century won’t believe the double standard restrictions women had placed on them until the 1970s and beyond.

Campus run like Bootheel high school

President Mark Scully ruled the college campus just like a Bootheel high school. [In fairness to Dr. Scully, his obit in The Missourian had nice things to say about him when he died in 2002.]

Dress Code for Men:Dress for men is slacks and sport shirt or sweater. Shorts may be worn in warmer weather to classes. Shirt tails should never be worn out, and because of sanitation reasons, socks should always be worn with shoes. Thongs are not considered appropriate for any occasion other than dorm wear. For concerts, plays and the like, a suit and/or sports coat is called for. [I’m pretty sure the word “thong” had a different meaning in 1966. Dr. Scully would go out of his way to enforce the shirttail rule personally.]

Dress Code for Women:Skirts and blouses and/or dresses are the appropriate dress for class wear. Girls may dress informally for trips into the Cape Girardeau community and on campus after 4:00 p.m. Informal wear (slacks or shorts) may not be worn in any instructional building or Kent Library. Dress in the residence halls depends on each hall’s rules. Also, teas and concerts and plays call for a suit or party dress with heels and hose.

[Notice that men can wear shorts to class, but women may not wear slacks or shorts in any instructional BUILDING. Guys DID have to wear socks for “sanitation reasons.”]

Association of Women Students

Women students DID get one perk male students didn’t. They were all automatically members of the Association of Women Students.

Membership of the A.W.S. includes every woman student enrolled at SEMO State. Each year this organization carries our several projects designed to aid the women of the campus, and among these projects are a fashion skit during the Orientation which advises the freshman coed on the various types of clothes to wear to college activities, a fall tea for all women students, and a Twirp Week. [The fall tea, Wife Lila informed me, was NOT optional.]

Twirp Week: The Woman Is Required to Pay. Every year, under the sponsorship of the Association of Women Students, one week is designated as Twirp Week. The woman has the opportunity to ask the man of her choice for dates, and assumes the responsibility for providing money and transportation. She must also perform common courtesies such as opening doors, and helping her date with his coat.

Life as a co-ed

I would occasionally need to go into female housing on assignment. It was kind of exciting to be in the inner sanctum with an escort hollering “MAN ON THE FLOOR!” as you walked along. You envisioned meaningful glances from your subjects.

Women’s Hours

11:00 Sunday and the first night back after a college holiday (night before the first day of classes)

10:30 Monday through Thursday

1:00 Friday and Saturday

Unfortunately, this was a more typical reaction.

Late Emergencies

If a co-ed returning to her residence is delayed until after hours, she should notify the houseparent or head resident by phone, i.e., babysitting or travel delays. If a phone is not available, come in and ring the doorbell late. Also, if it is necessary for a co-ed to leave her residence before the time it is regularly opened, she should make the necessary arrangements with the person in charge.

Special Permissions

1:30 closing hours for Homecoming and Sagamore Ball. On these special late nights there will be no overnight permissions granted. All co-eds will have 15 minutes after the close of the following events to return to their living units: Plays, concerts, lectures, college sponsored movies, and similar special events that last beyond closing hours. Arrangements should be made in advance with the houseparent or head resident for any college sponsored group activities such as band trips, debates, and conventions which require extra privileges.

Sign Outs

Overnights in Cape Girardeau and surrounding towns require the use of special sign out forms in the residence halls. Students who plan to stay overnight should request the form only after the Head Resident has contacted the student’s hostess and learned that the guest is welcome. (Maximum number of times per semester, 4 on-campus and 4 off-campus) Any signouts in excess of the stated maximum will be given only at the discretion of the person in charge…Students on restricted permission from their parents must have a letter from them for each separate absence.

[Women could stay out overnight only if the Head Resident called to make sure is was OK with the student’s “hostess.” I would guess that a “host” would not be appropriate. Parents could have an even tighter lock-down: if the student’s parents had put her on “restricted permission,” the parents had to provide a letter approving each request.]

General Conduct

A student at SEMO State is expected to conduct herself in an appropriate manner in her living unit and to conform to standards of propriety at all times. This implies a thoughtful consideration of the welfare and reputation of the school, the individual student, and the community.

[Note the word “herself.” Apparently, except for keeping their shirttails tucked in, men didn’t have any restrictions.]

No panty raids

College Property and Buildings – …Any student found guilty of inciting to action or willingly participating in action resulting in destruction of property or in unauthorized group activities, i.e., raids on women’s’ residences, that may or may not be destructive, will be subject to dismissal from the college. [It doesn’t explicitly spell it out, but this is the No Panty Raid rule.]

Residence Hall rules

Liquor in the hall – State law and College policy forbid the use or possession of alcoholic beverages on State College property. This includes parking lots and other campus areas, including residence halls. Bottles that have contained or appear to have contained alcoholic beverages are not to be used as room decorations.

Gambling – Gambling in every form is prohibited in the residence halls. Mere absence of money from sight does provide loopholes to permit gambling.

Weapons – Possession of any kind of firearms, including war souvenirs that constitute a hazard, is prohibited in residence halls for safety reasons. Hunting equipment should be checked in with the Head Resident.

Pets – For health reasons, dogs, cats, and other pets are not permitted in the residence halls. Goldfish and tropical fish are accepted.

Television – TV’s are not permitted in residence Hall rooms.

[Just for the record, I make enough typos on my own that I usually don’t play grammar policeman. I have to point out the the information in italics came from the student handbook. I’m not responsible for the spelling, consistency in style, or punctuation. An inside page credits Robert Northcutt with the cover design.]

24 Replies to “SEMO’s Double Standard”

Were we in the dark ages or what? I was at SEMO from ’61 through ’63 before transferring to Kentucky. I’m sure my granddaughters in college now can’t imagine those rules being enacted today. I do remember being a rebel and wearing shorts to my art classes UNDER my trench coat. I can say that things were much more liberal in MSU in Kentucky. And think what was yet to become in the late 60s.

I remember walking across campus from the music building down the hill to the Grauel Building for English class. I was cutting across the grass next to the history building and a car was headed down the hill (Academic Drive?) going the wrong way on a one-way street. Dr. Scully got out of the car and told me the grass was not made for walking on; that’s what sidewalks were for. And he’s driving the wrong way on a one-way street!

In December of 1969, the weather was so cold the women had chapped knees. Our wardrobe was short skirts and knee socks. I don’t remember how well organized our unauthorized change in the dress code was, but we put on slacks, went to class, and never looked back. As I recall, President Scully did not offer a comment on the change in our attire.

So sad–no mention or photo of my old dorm, Leming Hall, where our dorm “mother,” Nell Bell, ruled with an iron hand… Week night curfew was 10 p.m., and I think I remember a midnight weekend curfew (could that be wrong?? It seems much too lenient.)
One minute late, and we had to ring the doorbell and listen for the thump, thump, thump of Mrs. Bell’s heavy tread. She always wore little pumps with 1 inch heels. Surprising what a thump she could achieve with them.
The other girls LOVED to hang over the upstairs banister railing to stare at the miscreant who had come in late.
I don’t remember the guys being allowed to wear shorts to class, and, believe me–I would have noticed… As for the girls–yes, slacks only after 4 p.m.
I talked to an adorable little lady who ran a jewelry shop on Main Street when I was in college. She delighted in telling us that the girls had to wear gloves to dinner, when she was at Semo.
I remember the “Man on the Floor!” alert–It was a far cry from 2000, when my daughter roomed at Dearmont. I was horrified to learn that her “all-girls” floor had boys taking showers on that floor and staying in the girls’ rooms! My, my–how times change!

Spring of 1961 caught me student teaching English at the SEMO lab high school. I recall being so excited to teach “Catcher in the Rye,” which the senior students took to like ducks to water–we even met at the lake in Capaha Park (correct name of lake on campus?) to discuss in depth the famous inquiry “Where do the ducks go in winter?”
That is, until President Scully himself showed up at my classroom to announce that “Catcher” was not appropriate for SEMO high school! He followed the line “Life is a game that one plays according to the rules!” Students had already devoured the novel the first few days I handed it out, so his censorship attempt was fruitless since we worked in Rye commentary to the semester end.
I still revel in how we SEMO grads felt that we could do anything with our lives–to hell with their rules–and that “we could actually catch them all before they fell off the cliffs.”

I’ve been debating whether or not to share some of my Dr. Scully encounters like your Catcher in the Rye story.

Like I mentioned, his obit pointed out that he had done a lot for the college (now university) during a time of rapid transition. He also recognized that he had to deal with a very conservative community.

Oh I am just a student, sir
and only want to learn
But it’s hard to read through the risin’ smoke
of the books that you like to burn…
* * *

I wish that you’d make up your mind
I wish that you’d decide
That I should live as freely
as those who live outside
Cause we also are entitled
to the rights to be endowed…
* * *

Ooh, you’d like to be my father
you’d like to be my Dad
And give me kisses when I’m good
and spank me when I’m bad
But since I’ve left my parents
I’ve forgotten how to bow
So when I’ve got something to say, sir
I’m gonna say it now.

Those “dorm rules” were also to be enforced for females living in community homes! My folks had college students staying in our upstairs for years. There was a kitchen, bath and room for 5 girls. It was always exciting and most of them were very nice. Ther were a few who broke every rule and caused havoc, but they didn’t last long in college and were soon gone from the house. At one time the college folks even inspected the homes to see that you had a desk for each student complete with lamp and a book shelf. Every year you received a list of rules that had to be posted. The rules applied to ALL students, even if they were relatives. Thanks goodness the rules didn’t apply to children living at home and going to college!

As a Home Economics major I lived in the Home Management House one quarter (the other half of the semester you did your student teaching). One of my housemates had a terrible cold and sore throat and her family’s remedy was a shot of liquor. She bought a bottle and then realized she couldn’t keep it in the house or in her car, so we took it to my parents and then went down there for her to take her “meds”. My parents were fine with it because it was my mother’s cure as well – the only time she ever drank the stuff. (German families from Perry County preferred beer!) Also, the last night in the House we all went out to eat with the superviser for an elegant meal. The 6 of us were going across the river afterwards, but we had to take the superviser home first. She wanted to go along, but her job would have come to a halt immediately!!
… Yes, those were the days “when girls were gilrs and men were men”!

I still have PTSD from my experiences at SEMO. It was the worse place I ever went to school. I remember the two women whose pictures appeared on the front page of the school paper, I think it was called the Capaha Arrow. They were wearing slacks after a snow storm and were walking back to campus with groceries BEFORE 4PM. Scully suspended them for improper attire! They were not permitted to return to school until their parents confronted Scully personally. I was called up to Academic Hall by Dean Forest for a little chat on more than one occasion. He accused me of belonging to the SDS. When I finally convinced him I wasn’t a member, but only living in the basement of the house where they met, he asked me to spy on them and prepare reports for him! He threatened to expel me if I didn’t comply with his wishes. And Alton Bray…he was by far the worst Registrar that was ever created. There’s not enough space to outline his atrocious behavior. Glad I finally got out of that place. I have attended other higher education institutions since then, and have enjoyed all my experiences. But, I still have nightmares about SEMO.

Well I don’t know if things are better now or back then. I think the answer is: they were different times. I wonder if men (I actually wrote boy) students will ever know the fun of a “panty raid” and having talked to the girls afterward, they had just as much fun. The trill of having off campus parties that were “naughty” because we wanted to live “on the wild side” if only for a night. I am sure students are having fun now but I don’t think i could handle showering and mingling with girls in same area. I think my blood would rush from my head elsewhere. different times I guess…

Women, would you like to go back to the days when you were locked in a dorm where you had to be back within 15 minutes after a “special event” ended? Or be told that you couldn’t wear slacks on a zero-degree day?

I know how the female former SEMO student who lives at MY address feels about it. She was so mad she could spit when I reminded her of the Good Ole Days.

What a batch of memories this is, and it caused me to dig out my old copies of the “Gadfly”, for those of you who remember it!!! I wrote a screed/diatribe on the conditions of serfdom suffered by the ladies at SEMO, circa 1966-67, which got hoots and kudos alike. Seems the loyal administration on “the Hill” even saw fit to inform my high school of my shenanigans!! I lived in Myers, and I had close friends at Dearmont, Leming, and North Towers, ( I had a key to North’s back door for those “emergency situations”), but her brothers lived on Sprigg so it wasn’t a big deal!!! Damn times have changed, I’ve got a daughter that would have burned a head resident with spells and castings for presuming to afront her liberty such as was committed by the powers of that time!! Be Well, SEMO, Be Well.

Doors to the women’s dorms were locked at 11pm sharp. If you arrived after that, you were given ‘late minutes’. Accumulate 15 late minutes during any given semester, and you were ‘campused’. This meant you had to spend an entire weekend inside the dorm.

Wow. I don’t think Bob Jones University or Liberty U. are that strict!! About the only thing missing at ’60s SEMO is mandatory chapel and Bible study. 🙂

Seriously, I’m aware that colleges were a bit persnickety and took that “in loco parentis” doctrine to varying degrees, but how was SEMO in comparison to other schools in that era?

Next question – when did things finally loosen up?? I see from SEMO’s entry in Wikipedia that Dr. Scully stepped down in 1975. Certainly things got better before then. Right?

I lived in Cape from 1978-82, attending CJHS and CHS along the way, and compared to places I’ve lived (mostly in the Deep South), Cape Girardeau was the least uptight … Central had its rules, of course, but it struck me as being very trusting of its students.

My experience was school year ’72-’73. Right in the thick of the so-called Women’s Lib Movement. There were all kinds of school-sponsored seminars, discussions, guest speakers etc. designed to enlighten us women. But we had to boogie on back to the dorm by 11 or there’d be hell to pay!

I went to SEMO 1976-1980. I lived in Cheney Hall when it was strictly an all girls dorm. I remember the calls of “man on the floor” which you had to announce when bringing a male onto the floor, just in case a resident girl was walking about in her underwear. There were designated hours only on the weekends when you could have a male friend in your room, but the door had to be wide open and there was the “all feet on the floor” rule to discourage couples from being too affectionate. The PA’s on duty would patrol the dorm at those times to make sure the rules were being adhered to. The dorm was locked in the evenings, but we could come and go as we pleased, as everyone had a key. There was no dress code imposed by SEMO at that time, so I never wore a dress. I hate them to this day. We did have some really lame SEMO physical education shorts and tops that we had to wear to all PE classes. Makes me wonder what the uniform is today or do they even require students to take PE classes anymore?! Only a few girls in the dorm had a TV. Television wasn’t outlawed by that time in the dorm, but it just wasn’t common for most to have a TV. You went to the lobby to watch TV. We were required to attend floor meetings in which the PA’s (personnel assistants) discussed such things as upcoming events, any problems that had arisen, or the schedule of when you were supposed to be out the dorm for holidays. Alcohol was strictly forbidden in the dorm, although there were a few girls that got caught with liquor, but I don’t remember what the punishment was.
After 8pm, on the week nights, there were quiet hours, where you were only allowed to whisper. They called those study hours. Sometimes the PA wouldn’t tolerate whispering either. I recall my freshman year in 1976 when one of the local fraternities, during rush week showed up outside Cheney Hall and began singing “Buffalo girl, won’t you come out tonight” and at the end of the song, showed their bottoms. We were quite shocked, but thought it was hysterical. Just a few years earlier, the young men probably all would have been expelled for that. I remember one of the girls in the room across the hall from me snuck in her boyfriend to spend the night. I was quite appalled that she would break the rules, let alone share a bed with her boyfriend.

This is “the way things were” everywhere – certainly not just at Cape State. Most changes are fantastic – there are some however that seem to carry negatives. Not sure “change for change sake” is always the best course of action. Spending much time on a college campus now & remembering how it was, kind of glad I am an “oldster” & lived thru those times that now seem so outrageous. Really wasn’t all that bad!!!
A 50s “girl”…..

Reading some of these comments makes me realize how easy it is to look through rose colored glasses. I, for one, would NEVER want to go back to those “good old days”. Who would ever want to be treated as a second class citizen, again? Who would want to sit in class and be something of an “after thought” while all around the males and instructor were engaged in lively discussion? Who would ever want to tolerate all the sexual comments and innuendos from the male classmates, as well as from the male instructors? You have to be kidding if you think these are the “good old days”. Most of the people I know who talk about how great it used to be, are white, protestant, males.

Inappropriate comments towards women aren’t a thing of the past. There’s plenty of jerks around of all ages of various religious, races, ethnic and class backgrounds. I know it’s politically correct to bash Christians, but look at the way Muslims treat women. Watch COPS and you’ll see whites, Mexicans, Asians and African Americans beat women. I think most people consider their youth as the good old days. It was a time of socializing, having a good time, when your only responsibilities were studying and going to class and not having your parents around to tell you what to do. I would not want to go back to my college days for the one reason that I have no interest in studying, sitting through boring lectures and worrying about tests. It was much easier to get a job back then and pay for schooling without having to go into debt to pay for it. Now everything is so high tech that you can’t get a good job unless you have the aptitude for those types of jobs.

I resided in Towers dormitory freshman year (1976) and remember the bizarre rules that seemed very Puritan, even for those days. The rules about having the door open and your feet on the floor if a woman was in your room was a killer. The work-around for the “no opposite sex visitors after 11 p.m. rule” was to shut the door at 11 and have your boyfriend/girlfriend not emerge until visitor hours the next evening. Hidden liquor in dorm rooms was present, and if found by your floor monitor, you were usually told to get rid of it, which we did, but never down the drain. Although you could go over the line and pay for it, like when the building P.A. walked into a room of some guys and their girlfriends drinking it up at 1 a.m.

Within a few months I started making plans to live off campus for sophomore year.

Seems I also remember students protesting some new dorm restrictions when they returned in fall of ’77. They camped out on Academic Hall lawn and dubbed themselves Leestamper’s Campers in reference to SEMO’s president of the day.

I was a Sophomore when they let girls wear pants on campus for the first time. We could wear coordinated slacks sets to class IF the temp was below a certain degree, I think it was about 15 degree F, when we left for school that day. It was a brutally cold winter. But the punch line is that the head of the women’s PE department wouldn’t let you wear them into the PE building.

I lived in Albert Hall in the 50’s. It must have been a different world before Scully. (I actually participated in his inauguration my senior year)

Albert was an old building and our rooms were primitive compared to today’s dorms. But, we still had great times there. One dresser to share, one table and two chairs, two beds and a basin. But we decorated with wooden crates for storage. We “outfoxed” the hours many times by coming in on time and climbing out the window in a room at the back. Didn’t mind the fact we couldn’t wear slacks. That was the way we dressed then. But loved that we were right across the street from Academic Hall and the science buildings and teaching lab. Also we loved dating the guys from Malden Air Base who were learning to fly. (They had money to take us to nice places.). Best of all, we made friends who have remained to this day. Oh, and the school made me a happy, successful teacher.

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Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, was a photographer for The Tiger and The Girardot, and was on the staff of The Capaha Arrow and The Sagamore at Southeast Missouri State University. He worked as a photographer / reporter (among other things) at The Jackson Pioneer and The Southeast Missourian.

He transferred to Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, his junior year, and served as photo editor of The Ohio University Post. He was also chief photographer of The Athens Messenger.

He was chief photographer of the Gastonia (NC) Gazette for a long 18 months until he could escape to The Palm Beach Post, where he served as a staff photographer, director of photography, editorial operations manager and telecommunications manager. He accepted a buyout in 2008, after 35 years at the paper.

Most of the stories are about growing up in a small Midwestern town on the Mississippi River, but there’s no telling what you might run into.

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